


Luck Be a Lady

by heresyourchecksir (irongirl4597)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Apologies, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, M/M, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 00:37:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20218918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irongirl4597/pseuds/heresyourchecksir
Summary: Thanks to an old family blessing, Will has been lucky all his life. Now, he's realizing that luck doesn't always work the way he expects.





	1. Prologue

There’s a story that gets passed around at every Poindexter get together. It changes depending on who’s telling it, what time of year it is, and how much the storyteller has had to drink, but the gist of it stays the same. It’s the story of how the Poindexter’s got their boons. Many years before, back when their family still hailed mainly from Ireland, their ancestor, Aurthur Poindexter, pleased a fairy. (How he pleased the fairy has been up for discussion for decades; some think he saved the fairy’s life, while others argue that he may have pleased the fairy in more physical ways). Since then, every Poindexter had been blessed with a small boon. Nothing so big and flashy that it would attract unwanted attention to the family, but each powerful enough to help ease the burdens of life for the respective Poindexter, such as the ability to always catch enough fish to not be hungry or the ability to weave big blankets in half the time it’s supposed to take. The Secret of the Boons was the Poindexter’s closest guarded secret, only shared with people who married into the family. There was a rumor that once a Poindexter told someone outside the family about their boon, and soon after that Poindexter lost their boon. Each Poindexter feared the same fate, as they all loved and appreciated their boons and the help they gave. Will was no different. He felt luckier than his family members, mostly because he was. His boon of luck made sure that he never went last in gym class, always ended up with good group partners, and was the one kid in his entire middle school who was actually able to get something out of the rigged claw machine at the local arcade. He never got seriously injured, and he won every coin toss he’s ever entered.

  
Well, almost every.


	2. The Dib Flip

When Bitty suggested a Dib Flip, Will felt his heart jump in excitement. It was perfect!! He knew his boon would win it for him. And no one would ever know that the odds had been skewed in his favor. He kept his composure though; if he acted wrong then everyone would know something was up. So he shook Nursey’s hand and waited for Lardo to flip the coin. The coin spun once, twice, three times before falling to the ground, spinning, and starting to roll. Even though he knew what the outcome would be, Will still watched the coin intensely, sweating more each second that it continued to move. When the coin finally came to a stop, Will couldn’t breathe.

“Wow,” Lardo said, sounding shocked and impressed.

“Chill!!” Nursey shouted, a smile growing on his face.

“Well! What are the odds?” Bitty exclaimed, placing his hands on his hips.

“This can’t be happening,” Will said, dropping to his knees and staring in horror at the coin, which had been caught between two floorboards at a perfect ninety-degree angle.

“Solomon himself could not have thought up a solution more wise,” Bitty said with a cheerful shrug. “Looks like y’all are sharing this room!”

“Re-Flip!” Will begged, turning to plead with Bitty. “Check the lease! Have Shitty re-interpret the bylaws-I can’t.”

(Can’t live with Nurse, my number one crush and number one pain in my side is what Will meant, but he wasn’t about to admit that to the present company.)

Nursey crouched down next to him and put a hand on his back, “Come on, Poindexter. It’s a pretty big room. And rent’s even lower this way.” Nursey gave him a shit-eating grin and Will felt his heart jump into panic mode.

“Is this is a test? To see who really wants dibs, right? Who respects the Haus most? Right???” Will asked, whipping around to look at Lardo, who shook her head.

“Poindexter! Face it, you’re gonna move out by August. September. Tops,” Nursey said, pushing himself up to stand.

Will turned back around to stare dejectedly at the coin in the floorboards. He was vaguely aware of Chowder appearing and saying something, but his mind was elsewhere. He’d never lost a coin-flip before. He’d never lost anything that was based off luck before. Not straw picking, wishbones, or a board game. It wasn’t possible. And now he’d not only lost a coin-flip, but it was the coin-flip with the highest stakes. Sharing a room with Nursey would be impossible. If he was forced to live in close proximity with Nursey, Will didn’t know if he would kiss Nursey or kill him, or worse, both. But college housing was just too expensive to stay in any longer. Haus rent was much cheaper, plus the added benefit of being constantly close to Bitty’s cooking would definitely help out in the grocery department. But being so close to Nursey, Will just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Will stayed kneeling on the floor, staring at the coin for who knows how long. Finally, Lardo shook him out of his stupor.

“Dude,” she said, causing him to look at her with bleary eyes. “You gotta go.” The look she was giving him was sympathetic, but also said: “Get out now, please.” Will nodded and slowly got up from the floor, his body aching from remaining in a tense position on the floor for so long. He made his way back to his dorm and flopped down on his bed, his mind still looping on the fact that he would be sharing a room with Nursey. Finally, he pulled out his phone, scrolled the contacts, and hit call.

His mother answered after 3 rings. “Hey, baby!”

Will closed his eyes and in his mind he saw a vision of her standing in the kitchen, flipping through a Better Homes magazine with one hand while holding the phone in the other.

“Hi mom,” he said, breathing out tension he didn’t know he still had.

“What’s up?” she asked.

Will took a deep breath. “Can boons stop working?”

There was a pause. “Did you tell someone, honey?”

“No, of course not!” Will assured her.

He heard her let out a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s the only thing we’re pretty sure that would cause a boon to stop working. Why are you asking?”

“There was this coin-flip today, and…” Will chewed on his bottom lip, “I lost.”

“You lost?” his mom sounded as shocked as he felt.

“Yeah. Well, sort of. It didn’t land on heads or tails. So I guess I tied. But that’s never happened before either. My first thought was that my boon stopped working.”

“Well, technically a tie isn’t a loss,” his mother pointed out. Will rolled his eyes. “And you know, sometimes our boons don’t always work the way we expect. Remember the story of your Great-Great-Aunt Shannon? She could always make sure any crop grew healthy, but then one day she wasn’t able to grow this one crop. Our family ended up not planting any of it, and it turned out that there was a disease going through that crop, but since we hadn’t planted any of it we had plenty of food for us and to go around. It might be like that. But don’t fret about it just yet, sweetie. I’m sure it will all work out fine.”

Will sighed again. “Alright. Thanks, mom. Love you.”

“Love you too, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.” Will let his phone fall on his bed and stared up at the ceiling wondering how this could possibly turn out okay.


	3. Move-In Day

By the time fall came, Will had made peace with his situation. He did have 3 months of summer to get over it. It helped that Nursey didn’t really text him other than to help coordinate who would be bringing what. (It kinda hurt too, since usually Nursey couldn’t help but blow up Will’s phone with pictures of lobsters and ginger kittens, and even those were missing. Will felt sad when he checked his phone on his breaks and saw no new messages from Nursey outside of the group chats, but he wasn’t going to admit that to anyone.)So by fall, Will was sure he’d be able to handle living with Nursey. Just to be safe, he arrived early to start setting up his stuff. The only other person at the Haus was Bitty, so Will said hello and got right to work. He converted Lardo’s loft bed into bunk beds and tacked up some shelves for the piles of poetry books he knew would eventually migrate into the room before putting away the majority of his things. He claimed the top bunk since he was sure Nursey would end up falling off and injuring himself if Will forced him up there.

A little while after Will finally got himself fully settled in, he heard a familiar voice, muffled by the door. He stood up just as the door swung open.

“Hey! Sup Dex?” Nursey asked brightly, beaming at him. He was carrying several big boxes, each with a description of what was inside scribbled on the side in black sharpie.

“Hey Nurse, welcome to the room,” Will said lamely, gesturing around him.

“Thanks, man,” Nursey said, looking around and beginning to step into the room. “Wow, you really we-”

Will saw what was going to happen milliseconds before it did. Nursey went to take a step but was unknowingly standing on an untied shoelace. He started to trip forward, but Will got there first. He caught the boxes and managed to steady Nursey before Nursey fell flat on his face.

“Whoa, nice catch,” Nursey said, his eyes still wide as he recovered from what almost happen.

“Thanks,” Will breathed out, finding himself getting distracted by how green Nursey’s eyes were up close. He realized after a half a second that he was still holding the boxes and staring, so he cleared his throat. “Let me take these and set them down before you hurt yourself.”

Nursey chuckled and let Will take the boxes. “Wouldn’t that be hashtag on-brand for me though? Getting back to the Haus and immediately injuring myself?”

Will rolled his eyes as he set the boxes on the empty desk. “Yeah, and then you’d whine and I would have to finish lugging all your shit up the stairs while Bitty makes you a ‘get better’ pie.”

“Aww, you’d move my boxes in for me Poindexter? Maybe the tinman does have a heart after all.” Nursey leaned against the wall and smirked. Will felt his ears start to burn and the comment, even though it was a joke.

“Well, the options would be either lug them up here or out to the curb, so depending on how much you whined it could go either way,” Will shot back. Nursey laughed and Will found himself smiling at the sound.

“You wouldn’t throw my stuff out. Cause then I’d have to wear your stuff, and I know how picky you are about your flannels,” Nursey said, sounding sure of himself.

Will rolled his eyes and decided to change the subject before the image of Nursey in his clothes started causing problems for him. “Come on, Nurse. Tie your shoe and I’ll help you finish moving in. By the time we’re done, Bitty will probably be done with his first couple of pies.”  
Nursey leaned down to tie his shoe and nodded. “Chill.”

A little while later, Will and Nursey had finished bringing Nursey’s things up to their room and had each rewarded themselves with a little bit (read: slightly less than a quarter) of pie. Nursey sat on his bed, and Will sat in one of the desk chairs to eat his snack.

“Oh! That reminds me!” Nursey said all of a sudden, slightly startling Will. “I got something for you, roomie.”

Will groaned as Nursey scuttled off his bed towards one of the boxes on his desk. “Is it the gift that you won’t call me roomie ever again?”

“Of course not, roomie,” Nursey said, smirking at briefly at Will before continuing to search through his boxes. Finally, he pulled out a small, crinkled bundle of brown paper and handed it to Will before sitting down on his bed again. Will carefully unwrapped it to find a small lobster Christmas ornament inside. The ornament appeared to be made out of hundreds of tiny beads threaded onto wire.

“This is cool,” Will said with a small smile, glancing up at Nursey. “Thanks, Nurse.”

Nursey shrugged and took a bite of pie. “It’s n-b-d. It’s a pretty good thing you caught me earlier, otherwise, it would’ve gotten smashed.”

“It was a lucky catch,” Will said, knowing the joke would go right over Nursey’s head. He looked back at the lobster and very carefully set it on his desk. He kept glancing from it to Nursey as he continued to eat his pie, feeling even better about how this year could go.


	4. Will's Bad Day

Will had a rotten day. And the worst part is that Will typically didn’t get rotten days, so he figured he must have lost his boon for real this time. It was one of those days where nothing big had happened, but all of the little things seemed to add up to perfectly ruined day. He’d stepped in water in his socks after practice that morning, forgotten his Comp Sci book containing his homework and notes, his pen ran out of ink during history and he didn’t have a spare, and he kept consistently ending up behind the slowest people on the sidewalks. His group meeting went extra long, so by the time he got back to the Haus, he simply wanted to collapse in bed and forget about the day. He could hear music playing from the kitchen, some upbeat pop song that clashed with his mood and irritated him further. Chowder and Nursey sat on the gross green couch, partially sprawled on top of each other and presumably working on homework.

“Hey Dex!” Chowder greeted brightly, giving him a wave.

Nursey gave him an up-nod, “Sup.”

“Hi,” Will said darkly, not looking at them and heading towards the stairs. He could feel them staring at him as he climbed, but felt a small ping of appreciation that they didn’t try to talk to him further. Will dropped his backpack next to his desk and climbed into bed, letting out a groan of frustration. He laid there for a while, absentmindedly scrolling on his phone when the door burst open and Nursey rushed in.

“Dex, emergency! Come quick!” Nursey sounded out of breath.

Will shot right up. “What’s going on?”

“Emergency! We need you, stat!” Nursey said, waving his hand in a rapid “Come On” gesture. Will launched himself out of bed, sliding down the ladder and silently praying that the Haus hadn’t caught on fire or started finally collapsing. He followed Nursey down the stairs and to the living room, where he stopped short at the scene in front of him. The couch had been pushed back, leaving a big space on the floor. The couch cushions had been covered by a sheet and placed this space, along with a bunch of pillows and shark stuffed animals that must have come from Chowder’s room, to make a cozy-looking nest. Chowder sat in the middle of the nest, smiling up at Will.

Will looked at Nursey. “Where’s the emergency?”

“Right here,” Nursey said with a sly grin, spreading his arms to present the space.

“The emergency is that it’s frog bonding time, and you were in your room, not bonding with your fellow frogs,” Chowder explained, giving Will a gentle smile.

“Oh,” Will said, shifting from foot to foot and crossing his arms. “Sorry C, I’m not really feeling frog bonding tonight.”

“No chance, Dex. It’s mandatory for all frogs,” Chowder said, patting the space on the floor next to him.

Will smiled in spite of himself. “Says who? Our Captain?”

“You bet your ass I do!” Bitty called from the kitchen. “Now get in there and bond!”

“Okay, okay, I’m going.” Will chuckled and sat down next to Chowder. He tried to not react when Nursey settled down next to him, so close that Will could feel the heat radiating from him. Chowder grabbed a large bowl of popcorn and plopped it in Will’s lap before hitting play on the TV remote, starting Will’s favorite movie, Back to the Future. Will watched the movie, squished between his two best friends, and felt the stress from the day slip away. Halfway through the movie, Nursey had fallen asleep, his head lolling on Will’s shoulder and his chest slowly falling and rising in an even rhythm. To distract himself from watching Nursey’s eyelashes, which were fluttering ever so slightly, Will turned to Chowder.

“Thanks for putting this together, C. I really needed this.”

Chowder shrugged. “No problem, but it’s really Nursey who you should thank. He came up with the idea. He figured you’d probably had a bad day, and thought this might help.”

Will blinked in surprise. “He did?”

Chowder nodded, and Will couldn’t help the small smile that spread across his lips.

“I’ll have to thank him when he wakes up,” Will said quietly.

Chowder gave him sort of a funny look but nodded again. “Yeah.”

“Immwake,” Nursey mumbled, startling both Will and Chowder.

“No, you’re not,” Will insisted.

“Am too.”

“Are not, you’re drooling on me.”

“No, I’m not, ‘cause Imawake.” Nursey lifted his head and smirked at Will, his eyes still squinty with sleep.

Will rolled his eyes, trying to keep from smiling. “Whatever, Nurse.”

“I’m gonna go grab pie,” Chowder said, pushing himself up and heading toward the kitchen.

“Grab me a slice!” Nursey called.

“Of course!”

Will gently jostled Nursey with his shoulder. “Thanks for this, by the way.”

Nursey shrugged. “It’s n-b-d. But you’re welcome. I could tell you needed something.”

“Was it that obvious? I thought I was hiding it so well,” Will joked.

“Well, you know me, Poindexter, I can read you like an open book.” Nursey playfully shoved his shoulder. Will hoped that he was just joking, and decided to let himself believe that was the truth because at that moment Chowder came back balancing three huge pie slices. As Will sat between his friends, eating fresh pie and watching his favorite movie, he couldn’t help but feel like maybe his boon wasn’t gone after all.


	5. The Apology

Since Will and Nursey lived together in a fairly small space for two almost grown hockey players, they quickly fell into an easy daily rhythm. Will woke up earlier, and his shaking of the bed as he climbed down the ladder woke Nursey up for the first time. Will would use the bathroom and brush his teeth, and by the time he was done, Nursey’s alarm had gone off twice and Nursey had finally pulled himself out of bed and blearily stumbled to the bathroom door. They traded places, allowing Will to get dressed and start packing his books for the day. By the time Nursey stumbled back out of the bathroom, Will would be heading downstairs to wait for him. They’d walk to team breakfast together in companionable silence since Nursey wasn’t able to function before his first cup of coffee. Then the two would go their separate ways until they both got back to the Haus at night. Will typically went to bed before Nursey, so their evening ritual was easier to navigate. Nursey had hung soft glowing fairy lights around his bed so that he could stay up reading until 4 in the morning without bothering Will. On the rare occasions they went to bed at the same time, they found themselves silently communicating around their room the same way they did on the ice, much to Will’s pleasant surprise.

One Friday night, after a night of drinking and partying with their fellow Hausmates and some of their Alumni friends, a pleasantly buzzed Will and sloppily drunk Nursey made their way to their room together, giggling and leaning on each other for support. When they got inside, Nursey fell onto his bed, still happy and tipsy.

“I’m jus gonna sssleep right here, like this,” he slurred, his arms flopping out to the side.

“You’re gonna regret that in the morning,” Will said, pulling his jeans off and switching into a pair of flannel pants.

“I regret a lot of things. I’ll just add this to the pile,” Nursey said, his words getting slower as the pauses between them lengthened. Will hummed in response, absentmindedly thinking about whether or not he should brush his teeth or not. He decided against it, figuring he’d join Nursey in the regret party tomorrow. But that was a problem for future Will. Present Will climbed into his bed and flopped down, letting himself sink into the stiff mattress. It didn’t take long for him to start drifting off to sleep.

“Hey, Dex?” Nursey said, pulling Will back to consciousness.

“Hmm,” Will said into his pillow.

“Rooming with you isn’t in my regret pile,” Nursey said distantly.

“Hmm?”

“I don’t regret rooming with you. I know you do, but I don’t mind it. I like rooming with you.”

Will felt strangely sobered up. “I don’t regret rooming with you, Nurse.”

“Yeah, you do.” Nursey sounded like he was falling asleep.

“No, I don’t. I like rooming with you too Nursey. I feel lucky to be with you,” Will said. He waited for Nursey’s response, but all he heard were the soft inhales and exhales of his roommate’s breath.

“I’m lucky to be with you,” Will repeated to the quiet room, marveling at the truthfulness of the statement until he finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Will couldn’t stop thinking about what Nursey had said.

“I know you regret it.”

How could Nursey think that Will regretted being his roommate at all? Perplexed, Will went to Bitty for the answer.

“Well sugar, you did kinda have a big, negative reaction to the outcome of the dib flip,” Bitty reminded him, giving him a sympathetic look while stirring a batch of cookie dough.

“But he should know by now that’s in the past! I thought we were all good now that living together has been such a breeze,” Will said, resting his head in his hands on the table.

“Have you actually apologized to him for your behavior that day?” Bitty asked, pointing the wooden spoon at him.

Will shrunk back a little. “No.”

Bitty went back to mixing, making a “that’s what I thought” noise. “Even though things might be goin’ so well, I bet he hasn’t quite forgotten about it. And Nursey’s good at hidin’ it, but things like this really get to him. He’s probably thought about it more than he’d like either of us to know. An apology would go a long way to helpin’ you both fully put that day behind you.”

Will felt rightly chastised. “You’re right, Bitty. I’ll make it up to him.”

* * *

The next day, Will waited for Nursey after his last class, much to Nursey’s surprise.

“Hey Poindexter, aren’t you on the wrong side of campus?” Nursey joked upon seeing him.

Will shrugged. “I thought we could go to Annie’s. My treat.”

Nursey raised an eyebrow at him but nodded. “Alright, sounds good.”

As they walked together to Annie’s, Nursey talked about the Lax Bro in his class who mansplained everything that one of Nursey’s English Major friends had brought up during class. When they got to Annie’s, it didn’t take long for them to place their order and find a table. Will decided to wait until after they had their drinks to start the conversation they needed to have. He waited until a natural pause to change the subject.

“Nursey, I have something I need to say to you,” he started, tearing at the heat sleeve on his cup.

Nursey paused with his drink halfway to his lips. “What?”

“It’s about the dib flip from last semester.”

“Oh?”

Will took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I acted like a huge dick and it was totally unfair to you. I shouldn’t have said that you didn’t do anything to earn the room. That wasn’t my place to decide. I just thought that for sure Ransom and Holster would give one us the attic, and when I heard that they didn’t then I figured Lardo would give me the room because I’d done so much for the Haus and…” Will realized he was rambling and took a steadying breath. “You know what? This isn’t about what I thought. I was wrong, and I know my reaction was bad and hurt you, and I wanted to say I’m sorry. So, I’m sorry.”

When he’d finished his monologue, he tentatively opened his eyes to wait for Nursey’s reaction. Nursey had frozen in place, a look of shock on his face. He slowly lowered his cup back to the table and blinked multiple times.

“Wow, Dex… wow. I… wasn’t expecting that,” he said, sounding mildly impressed. He ran a hand over his hair. “You’re right. What you did was a dick move, and it did kinda hurt. I appreciate you apologizing for it.”

“In the future, I’ll try to not be such a dick about things like that,” Will said, doing his best to remember the conversations about good apologies he’d had with Shitty.

Nursey let out a huff of laughter. “Thanks. I accept your apology.”

“Are we good?” Will asked with a tentative smile.

Nursey nodded, smiling back. “We’re good.”

Will’s smile grew. “Okay, cool.” He nodded a bit, feeling giddy. Nursey laughed at him.

“Wanna go see if we can get Bitty to bake us brownies?” Nursey asked after a minute.

“Bitty has a big test coming up,” Will remembered, “so it shouldn’t be that hard.”

Nursey smiled brightly and cocked his head towards the door. “Let’s go.”

The two of them grabbed their drinks and raced towards the door, competing to see who could get back to the Haus first.

(Will let Nursey win. He just smiled so brightly whenever he won, and Will was absolutely smitten by the look, not that he’d tell anyone. He considered himself lucky to be able to cause it every once in a while).


	6. Nursey to the Rescue!

Will didn’t tend to drink a whole lot. At Haus parties, he used Nursey Patrol as an excuse, but it wasn’t the only reason. He’d usually drink a couple beers or a quarter cup of tub juice to get himself tipsy enough that no one said anything, but that was where he usually cut himself off. He didn’t like the way he got when he was drunk. His skin would turn permanently red, he slurred his speech sometimes beyond the point of recognition, and he could no longer control what his mouth was slurring. His usually closely guarded inner thoughts used his drunkenness to escape their cells and tunnel to freedom. So, to keep that from happening around certain people whom he had secret feelings for, Will tended to not drink as much. Strangely, he felt more comfortable drinking more around strangers. Which was exactly what he was doing on this particular Friday night. One of the kids in his Comp Sci class invited him to a party on the opposite side of campus, and Will decided to blow off some of the midterm (and being roomed with his biggest crush) steam by attending. He told Chowder where he was going, and luckily Chowder didn’t ask to tag along (Friday nights were often his and Farmer’s date nights, and Will had been counting on that when he told him). So, Will went to the party and proceeded to get absolutely sloshed. He drank, and danced, and drank some more until he found himself leaning against the wall with a cute math major. He wasn’t as attractive as Nursey, Will thought to himself, but he had long lashes and seemed to be interested in Will, so Will figured he’d be okay. They chatted for a few minutes, but couldn’t really hear each other over the pounding of the bass. Since they were already leaning so close to each other, Will wasn’t really surprised when he found their mouths pressed together. They made out for a while, Will losing himself in the movements of their mouths and the feeling of the guy’s hair in his hands. The guy moved his hands down to Will ass, which startled Will, but he recovered quickly. He knew guys liked his hockey butt, and he was willing to share it on occasions. The guy grabbed it greedily, and Will happily let him. When the guy palmed Will through his jeans, Will felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown on him. Even though he’d known he was gay for a few years now, he hadn’t yet worked up the courage to do anything more than some shirtless making out and butt grabbing with another guy. He backed up, breaking the kiss and ruining the mood.

“Sorry,” he said, shaking his head, “I’m not ready for that.”

“Oh,” the guy said, looking one part dejected and one part ashamed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to push.”

“You didn’t know,” Will said with a shrug, keeping his distance. “I’m… ’m gonna go.”

“Okay,” the guy said, alcohol clearly clouding his thoughts.

“Nice meeting you,” Will said, waving and backing away.

“Uh, you too,” the guy said, returning the wave. Will turned and stumbled his way out of the house into the chilled air. He tried to remember which way the Haus was, but he hadn’t been on this side of campus much and everything looked much different when he was drunk and it was dark. He eventually settled down on a bench, shivering and wracking his brain for directions. He never got lost like this. He didn’t know what to do. He pulled out his phone only to realize he had no service.

After a few minutes, he heard, “Dex?”

He glanced up to see Nursey tentatively walking towards him, a green beanie pulled low over his head.

“What are you doing here?” Nursey asked, looking around. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets, trying to keep them out of the cold.

“Sitting,” Will said simply, shrugging slightly.

Nursey laughed. “I got that, but why are you on this side of campus?”

“I got invited to a’party,” Will said conspiratorially. “But I ‘cided t’leave, and now I don know wherr Haus went.”

“Oh man, I’ve been there,” Nursey chuckled, rubbing his arms.

“What’re you doin here?” Will asked, furrowing his brow and gazing up at him.

“I was at a poetry thing,” Nursey said, tilting his head in the direction he’d come from.

Will hummed, smiling slightly. “You’re good a‘that.”

“At what?”

“Poetry. I ‘ont get it, but it makesyou happy. And tha’sgood. You’re good,” Will informed him.

Nursey let out a low whistle. “You’re totally schwasted, aren’t you?”

Will said nothing but smiled guiltily. 

Nursey laughed again. “Alright dude, let’s get you home before you freeze out here.”

“Imma not freeze. ‘m fine,” Will said, not realizing that his teeth were chattering.

“That’s the beer blanket,” Nursey reminded him. “Now c’mon. Get up.”

Nursey helped Will to his feet, catching him when he started to fall forward. Nursey started leading them in the direction of the Haus, but Will kept stumbling all over the place. Nursey grabbed Will’s arm and looped it around his neck, helping to steady him as they made their way home.

“Man, you’re so lucky I came along. Bitty would’ve kicked your ass if you stayed outside all night and got a cold because you were too drunk to get yourself home,” Nursey said, holding Will tight to keep him upright.

“’m always lucky when ‘m with you,” Will said, letting his head fall on the shoulder next to Nursey. “Imean, ’m always lucky, ’s my boon, but ’m ‘specially lucky when ’m with you. ’m lucky I know you. Even if you don’ like me back.”

“I like you,” Nursey assured him, the way he would assure a child.

“Not th’way I like you,” Will said, lifting his head and sighing. 

Nursey stopped. “How do you like me?”

“Like like like. But you don’ like like me, and that’s ‘kay. I like being you frien’ too.” Will snuggled a little closer to Nursey.

Nursey was quiet for a moment but spoke up gently as they started walking again. “Will, if you remember this in the morning, you and I are gonna have a chat. We can’t have it while you’re in this state.”

“Massachussetss? Where’re we gon’ go then?” 

“I meant drunk.” 

“Oh. Tha’ makesmore sense.”

Nursey laughed. “They started a patrol to watch me when I drink, but I think Poindexter Patrol might be a must at the next kegster.”

“’m not tha drunk,” Will insisted, lifting his head and glaring at Nursey. Nursey raised an eyebrow at him. Will rolled his eyes. “Okay fine. Imma little drunk.”

“Let’s get you home, little drunk,” Nursey said, pulling Will along. Will groaned but allowed himself to be pulled, not that he had much choice.


	7. Broken Boons

The days following the party were arguably the worst days of Will’s life. Nothing seemed to be working right for him. When he tried to throw a balled-up piece of homework in his trash can, it bounced off the edge every time until he got so fed up he slam-dunked the paper into the can. He somehow managed to get something on his shirt or pants at every meal, even when he wasn’t eating something with sauce or dressing (the raspberry jam he sat in at team breakfast earned him chirps like no other). His laptop wouldn’t hold a charge for as long as it used to, and one morning he woke up to find out it hadn’t been charging the whole night and was completely dead. During practice, he kept missing passes and wasn’t able to score on Chowder during drills. He stepped on a piece of extra sticky, chewed up gum in his boots, and it got wedged in the treads enough so he felt the pull every time he went to take a step. When he tried to get it out, he ended up making it worse and getting gum all over his hands. He started to get a cowlick in his hair that wouldn’t stay down no matter what he tried, and it seemed like every pair of socks that he pulled out had a hole in the big toe.

“I think my boon really left me this time,” he told his mother over the phone, slumped at his desk.

“I think you’re overreacting, sweetheart,” she replied in the soft “get over yourself” tone that only mothers have. “You’ve had bad days before.”

“Yeah, but not this many, and never in a row like this. It seems like everything is out to get me.” Will leaned forward and let his forehead fall on his desk.

“It is odd,” his mom admitted. “But it will go away. It’s not like you told anyone about your boon, right?”

Will froze, blurry memories suddenly shifting into focus.

“Will?”

“I think maybe I did?” Will whispered.

“What?” His mother sounded as shocked as he felt.

“It was an accident!!” Will insisted.

“What happened?”

“The other night I got a little drunk,” Will heard a slight hum of disapproval from his mom but continued on. “And it may have slipped out then.”  
His mom was quiet for a moment before speaking. “We have no proof that telling someone will make your boon go away.”

“But Great Aunt Erma-”

“Was a cautionary tale we used to make sure the young’uns didn’t spill the beans to everyone they knew. We don’t know for sure it even happened,” his mother soothed. “I think you should just let whatever this is run its course. It should be over soon.”

“What if it’s not?” Will said, fully aware of how young and whiny he sounded.

“Then we’ll figure out what to do next,” his mom assured him.

Will sighed. “Okay. Thanks, mom. Love you.”

“Love you too baby.”

They hung up and Will sighed, letting his face smoosh itself into the desk. He heard soft knocking on the door.

“Come in!” he shouted, muffled by the desk. The door creaked open (Will reminded himself he needed to WD-40 it), and Nursey came in, walking gently.

Will lifted his head from his desk and turned to face him. “You know, you don’t have to knock on your own door.”

Nursey shrugged as he made his way over to his own desk. “I could hear you talking to someone and it sounded pretty serious. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Will felt his face heat up. “How much did you hear?”

“I didn’t hear any words, just the tone,” Nursey said, grabbing a book from the shelves above his desk.

“Oh. Okay. Good,” Will said, swallowing hard.

Nursey paused and raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine.”

“You sure?”

Will nodded. “Positive.”

The look of doubt remained on Nursey’s face as he gave Will a once-over. “Okay. Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

Will gave him a thumbs up and Nursey left, presumably to go downstairs and work on his homework in the kitchen. (He’d started doing that more frequently recently, not that Will would admit he noticed. He also wouldn’t admit that he was a little sad to not be studying together in their room anymore.)

* * *

Will’s week did not improve, but he did his best to forget about it for the game on Saturday. Luck or no luck, Will knew he was a good player and wouldn’t let a little thing like losing his boon affect his game. He just acted as everything was normal. He went through his pregame routine (dancing to whatever music Bitty decided to play in the locker room and pretending to be grossed out by Nursey’s loogie spot), and by the time he was dressed and they were on their way to the rink, Will felt almost back to normal. When he stumbled in his skates over a rough patch of floor, (something he’d never done in his life, not even when he was first learning to skate), Will tried to shake it off and kept moving, pretending that it hadn’t spooked him. He cleared his mind and focused on the game.

The game itself was a challenge. Will wasn’t doing horribly since he was managing to make his passes and do his job as defense, but Yale had always been a tough competitor. By the end of the third, both teams were tied one-to-one, pushing the game into overtime. Each player was hustling to try and score that game-winning point. Will managed to steal the puck from one of the Yale forwards, and he rushed over towards their goal. Will took a look at the goalie’s defensive stance and knew his best option was a trick shot, one that most people struggled with but Will was known for. Will lined up the puck, sent a quick prayer to his boon, and took his shot.

CLANG!

The puck ricocheted off the bar of the net, bouncing right to one of Yale’s defensemen. The defenseman shot up the ice and Will skated after. The defenseman passed to one of the forwards, who shot it back to the center, who snuck it by Nursey’s stick and shot it right past Chowder’s glove. The buzzer sounded and the Yale team exploded into a celly. Will watched Nursey skate over and put a hand on Chowder’s helmet, obviously offering some comfort. Will just hung his head, his breath heaving from the physical exertion. He glanced up after a minute and saw Nursey looking at him, so Will looked away and started to head for the end of game handshake line. He headed off to the locker room as soon as he’d finished shaking hands, lost in his own self-deprecating thoughts.

“Stupid,” he muttered to himself as he stalked down the tunnel, “should’ve passed it. Should’ve looked for another opening. Should’ve not taken that stupid shot.”

“Dex, Hey Dex! Wait up!” Nursey called behind him, interrupting his thoughts. He glanced back over his shoulder to see Nursey carefully jogging towards him. Will felt his right foot slip out from under him, and in the next moment he found himself lying on the ground, his ankle throbbing with pain.

“Will!” Nursey shouted. He appeared in Will’s sight. “Are you okay?”

“My ankle,” Will groaned, clasping it between his hands.

“I’m gonna get Bitty and the Coaches,” Nursey said, then disappeared. Will squeezed his eyes shut in pain and waited for help.

* * *

It was just a sprain. “Luckily,” Coach Hall had said, but Will knew better. If he was lucky, his ankle wouldn’t have sprained at all. If he was lucky, he wouldn’t have fallen (especially in front of Nursey). If he was lucky, he wouldn’t have Nursey accompanying him as he slowly crutched back to the Haus, rubbing salt in the metaphorical wound. On the bright side, Nursey wasn’t looking at him with pity like everyone else was. They walked back to the Haus together in silence, which Will was grateful for. It allowed him to brood over his ankle and quietly mourn the loss of his boon. It didn’t matter if the story about Great Aunt Erma was true or not, Will could be the new family warning. Will ruminated on this fact the whole time they walked. Nursey finally interrupted his thoughts with a throat clear, prompting Will to realize that they were at the steps of the Haus.

“Can you make it up those?” Nursey asked, nodding towards the front porch.

“I should be able to,” Will said, tentatively putting his crutches on the first step. He pulled himself up the three front steps, followed by Nursey. Nursey opened the door so Will could get in easier. The Haus already smelled like Will’s favorite cookies, so he guessed Bitty was in the kitchen. Chowder sat on the green couch, working on homework. He looked up when they came in, his eyes immediately drooping to a look of pity.

“Hey, how was your walk back?” he asked gently.

“Fine,” Will grunted.

Bitty came out of the kitchen and leaned on the door frame. “Is there anything we can help you with, sugar?” Will shook his head. Bitty tutted and continued. “If you like, we can put some sheets over the couch for you to sleep on. Lord knows I don’t want you to sleep on that thing, but it seems like it might be the best option, unfortunately.”

Will felt his face scrunch up, unsure if he was going to start crying or screaming, but before he could do either, Nursey spoke up.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, Bitty. This guy is a champ on the stairs,” he said, gently patting Will on the back. “You should’ve seen him on the front steps. He’s like the Flash with crutches.”

Bitty raised an eyebrow. “Alright. If you say so.” A timer went off and Bitty disappeared back into the kitchen.

“Thanks,” Will said quietly.

Nursey nodded slightly, “No problem. I figured you wouldn’t want to stay down here tonight.” Will gave him a tight-lipped smile and turned back to the stairs.

“Do you want help?” Chowder asked. Will shook his head. “Okay. Let me if there’s anything I can do.”

“I will,” Will said. He moved over to the stairs and started to climb, going painstakingly slow. Flash on crutches, Will’s ass. About halfway up the stairs, as Will reached his crutches up for the next stair, he leaned a little too far back and felt himself begin to fall backward. Will grasped for the banister, his left crutch slipping and falling down the stairs.

“Oh, hey!” Nursey shouted, bounding up the stairs. His hands reached Will’s back in time to keep him from falling any further. “Let’s not let you get any more injured.”

Will nodded, unable to form words because of the knot of fear and embarrassment that blocked his throat. Nursey stepped on to the same stair as Will, wrapping one arm around Will’s waist and draping Will’s arm over his shoulders.

“Let’s just take it easy,” Nursey said. Will nodded again, and they slowly made their way up the stairs. Will hoped that if Chowder saw how red Will’s face was that he’d assume it was from fear and pain. When they got up to the top, Nursey helped Will to their room.

“I’m glad you don’t live in the attic, cause I don’t want to have to carry your ass up another set of stairs,” Nursey remarked.

“Oh, fuck off Nurse,” Will said, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t ask for your help.”

“Yeah, but what was I gonna do, let my d-partner fall and smash his skull open? Then I’d have to play with someone else, Dex!” Nursey said, scoffing dramatically before flashing Will a playful smile.

“Thanks for not letting me die for your own personal gains,” Will said, rolling his eyes fondly.

“Anytime, Dexy,” Nursey said, still smiling at Will. Will turned to look at the room, knowing if he didn’t look away from Nursey things could get really awkward really quickly, and realized he had another problem.

“Well, at least I won’t be skipping arm day,” he said, eyeing the latter up to his bunk.

“What?” Nursey asked, looking from him to the bed. His eyes widened when he realized what Will was talking about. “Nope. Absolutely not. We’re switching beds.”

“What?” Will’s head snapped to look at Nursey.

“We’re trading beds until your foot’s healed,” Nursey repeated.

“I’m not sleeping in your bed Nursey!” Will said, his face heating up.

“Relax, I’ll change the sheets. Now c’mon.” Nursey helped Will into one of the desk chairs and set about swapping the sheets on both beds. When he finished, he turned to Will.

“I’m gonna go get your crutches. Do you think you’ll be able to get ready for bed without needing to call Life Alert?”

“Har har. Yes, I’ll be fine,” Will said, rolling his eyes.

“Good,” Nursey said. He left and Will quickly changed into his pajamas, using the desk chair to roll around the room. Will debated brush his teeth, but decided against it and moved onto Nursey’s bed just as Nurse came back, crutches and a water bottle in hand. He set them by the end of the bed.  
Nursey handed Will the water bottle and two little pills. “I brought you some ibuprofen. Thought it might help with the ankle.”

“Thanks, Nurse,” Will said, swallowing the pills with a sip of water.

“Anything else you need help with?” Nursey asked.

Will shook his head. “I’m just gonna go to sleep.”

“Alright. Holler or text if you need anything,” Nursey said, giving Will a two-fingered salute. He turned off the light and closed the door behind him. Will snuggled down into the bed, careful to not jostle his foot too much. He closed his eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's been a while since an update! Like, almost a month (my bad)! We're nearing the end now, so I'll try to be more consistent. Thanks for reading this far!


	8. All's Well that Ends Well

The next morning, Will woke up to soft sunlight cascading through the blinds of his and Nursey’s room, brightening the space in an almost magical way. He groaned and put his head under the covers, not yet ready to face the day. He snuggled back down into his pillow, jostling his foot and sending a sharp pain up his leg. He hissed in pain as the memories from the end of the game last night came flooding back to him. He turned to lie on his back, opening his eyes to see the slats of the underside of the upper bunk. He groaned again, remembering his embarrassing climb up the stairs and Nursey’s instance on switching bed. He sighed. He figured he should probably get up and eat something, but dreaded limping downstairs. As he lay in bed attempting to gather his strength, the door opened. Nursey walked in, holding a dining tray Will didn’t even know the Haus had.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!” Nursey sang, his voice far to chipper for Will’s liking. “How’s our patient feeling this morning?”

Will groaned for a third time that morning, unsure of which was worse: his injured foot of the obvious onslaught of Nurse Nursey jokes that he knew were imminent.

Nursey laughed. “That good, huh? I figured about as much, which is why I made a very special breakfast for you: scrambled cheesy eggs with a side of bacon for protein, toast for carbs, a tall glass of water for re-hydration, and the star of the morning: ibuprofen.” He proudly showed the tray to Will, which was surprisingly well laid out. Even the two red ibuprofen were artfully arranged on their own small plate. Will eyed it warily.

“You made it? Are you sure it’s safe to eat?” he croaked, sounding like a bullfrog.

“Bitty made the food,” Nursey corrected with a roll of his eyes, “but I organized the tray and made it all the way upstairs without dropping it, so I think I’m doing pretty good.”

“I do have to give you that one,” Will agreed, nodding his head slightly.

Nursey rolled his eyes again. “Sit up.”

Will half-heartedly glared at him. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“Aw, c’mon Dexy, let me play Nurse,” Nursey said, wiggling his eyebrows and smirking.

Will suppressed a groan and pushed himself up. “I don’t need to know about your kinks, man.”

“Are you sure?” Nursey joked, batting his eyelashes at him.

“I will throw up in your bed if you continue that,” Will threatened.

Nursey shrugged. “They’re your sheets.” He set the tray on Will’s lap before positioning himself on the opposite side of the bed.

“Are you gonna watch me eat?” Will asked, eying Nursey suspiciously.

“I’m letting you eat in my bed, a thanks would be appreciated,” Nursey said, scoffing in fake offense.

“They’re my sheets,” Will parroted. “But thanks, Nursey.” Nursey flashed him a smile as Will started to dig in. The food and medicine helped tremendously. Before long, Will was feeling almost 100%, except for a slight throbbing in his foot. Nursey sat on the opposite side of the bed on his phone. As Will finished his last bite of toast, Nursey cleared his throat.

“So, now might not be the best time to bring this up, but it’s also not exactly the worst time so…” Nursey closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “A few days ago I helped you get home from a party. Do you remember much from that night?”

Will chewed as he thought, memories of loud music and close-pressed bodies flashing through his mind. “I remember bits of the party, and then deciding to leave, and then…” He remembered saying something about his boon to someone, but he couldn’t tell Nursey that.

“Do you remember me finding you?” Nursey was looking at Will with a guarded expression. Will thought and could only remember Nursey’s smile, the way his head tilted slightly back while he laughed at something, his eyes shining like the moonlight off the snow.

“Vaguely,” Will admitted.

Nursey seemed to deflate. “Oh, okay.” He blinked and cleared his throat, averting his eyes. “Are you done with your tray?”

Will glanced down at the tray and nodded, confused at Nursey’s sudden topic change.

“I’ll just take it back downstairs then.” Nursey started to gather up the tray when a memory popped back into Will’s mind, clear as day.

“Wait,” he said, grabbing Nursey’s wrist gently, “We need to have a chat.”

“About what?” Nursey asked tentatively, sounding like he knew the answer.

“About…” Will searched for the right words in his mind, “the fact that I… like like you.” He felt his face burn, and he couldn’t bring himself to look up at Nursey. “And you just like me.”

“Will,” Nursey said. Nervous and hopeful orange eyes flicked up to meet gentle and scared green ones.

Nursey gave Will a small smile. “I like like you too. I have for a while now, which sucked at times because 1. You can be kind of a dick, like, a lot, and 2. I thought you were straight. But yeah, I like like you too.”

Will felt his heart beating in his ears. “But for the past few days, you avoided me as much as you could.”

Nursey let go of the tray and flipped his hands over to tentatively interlock his fingers with Will’s. “After you drunkenly admitted it, I needed some time away from you so I could process. The guy you like admitting he has a crush on you is a lot to deal with”

“Yeah, I’m kinda feeling that now,” Will said with a hysterical laugh.

Nursey laughed and looked at their connected hands. “And I wasn’t sure how to approach the topic, especially since you kept seeming to have really bad days. I figured I’d just bite the bullet and do it today.”

Will squeezed his hand. “I’m glad.”

Nursey gave him a small grin and squeezed his hand back.

“So, do you like like me enough to kiss me?” Will asked, his heart thudding in his ears.

Nursey smiled and nodded slightly. “Ch’yeah.”

They both leaned forward, meeting each other in the middle for a tentative first kiss. Will saw sparks behind his eyes that he knew had nothing to do with his throbbing foot, and moved to deepen the kiss. Nursey responded enthusiastically, opening his mouth and tilting his head back. Will started to move closer and felt something shift against his knees. He broke the kiss, catching the tray just as it was about to slide off the bed and drop the plates.

“Woah,” Nursey said, looking a little dazed. His eyes flicked to the tray in Will’s hands. “Lucky catch.”

Will chuckled. “Yeah.” He set the tray on the floor and turned back to Nursey, “but I think I’m luckier that I caught you.”

Nursey laughed and rolled his eyes. “God, that was corny. I’m not gonna kiss you again after that.” He shook his head and started to get up.

“Oh, c’mon, Derek!” Will pleaded, gently pulling him back. Nursey’s breath hitched and he went willingly, melting back into Will with another kiss. As they continued to make out, Will felt like his luck was finally returning, better than ever.


	9. Epilogue

Years later, after many dates and fights and lots of learning and growing, Will and Derek (because he stopped being Nursey to everyone except the 2015 Samwell Men’s Hockey Team shortly after he graduated) will tell their love story to their family members in the practiced way that old couples often do. It starts with the story of an ancestor pleasing a fairy (and Derek likes to imply different ways of pleasing depending on who is in the audience, much to Will’s loving disapproval), and ends with them kissing on the bed.

“I could feel the tray slipping,” Will will say, “so I broke the kiss…”

“And for a half-second, I thought I had done something wrong,” Derek will add, rubbing his hand up and down Will’s arm.

“And I grabbed it out of the air, managing to not drop a single plate.” Will will beam, still proud of himself.

“And I told him it was a lucky catch,” Derek will say, gazing with love in his eyes at Will.

Will will then take his husband's hand in his, a golden wedding band glinting in the light, “but you were the luckiest catch after all.”

The children will groan, the lovestruck teenagers will sigh, and the adults will roll their eyes, silently thinking that Will and Derek have always placed too much credit on Will’s boon when it’s clear their ridiculousness played a much bigger part. Will and Derek won’t know any of that though, and simply hold each other, feeling equally lucky to call the other his. 

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all she wrote! Thanks for sticking with this story despite the inconsistent updates. You can find me on Tumblr at [heresyourchecksir](https://heresyourchecksir.tumblr.com/)


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